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Dream Tropes Wiki/California Doubling
Any exotic foreign locale in a TV series or film is, due to budget or danger to the cast, likely to actually be somewhere in California, such as Kirk's Rock. For British sci-fi shows, it's "Quarry Doubling" — any desolate alien planet is usually a quarry (usually the BBC Quarry) within a couple of hours' drive from London — or Doubling for London. One of the most famous examples of this is in Star Trek (and all subsequent series), in which every planet they land on looks exactly like the deserts of southern California, the redwood forests of Northern California, or the mountains of Central California (assuming it isn't a studio cyclorama instead). Oh, and from time to time the script might call for a beach. Any ideas? This is actually one of the main reasons why Hollywood and the Los Angeles area became the capital of American filmmaking. The varied locales within two or three hours drive (desert, beach, mountains, farm land), along with the consistent year-round good weather, made Southern California ideal for making movies. California is not the only place that has done this. The Canadian province of British Columbia, between the metropolis of Vancouver and its vast mountain forests and oceans nearby, has become the third-largest film production center in North America thanks partly to its ability to stand in for the Pacific Northwest (usually Seattle or Portland) or any small, rural town in the northern half of the US. Another Canadian city, Toronto, has doubled for cities such as New York City and Chicago more times than it has actually represented itself. Utah has been Vulcan, Mars, and the Old West. Georgia and Louisiana have represented not just the Old South, but also modern Midwestern suburbia, northern industrial cities, and the jungles of Africa and South America. State and national governments know this, and frequently offer generous tax credits to lure film and television productions to their locales, to the point where even California itself has started offering its own tax incentives to keep Hollywood filming near, well, Hollywood. The main reason is that a production crew not only includes a cameraman, director and actors; there are usually at least two or three dozen people working on prepping a location, providing the appropriate light and transporting the equipment to film a scene. Moving everyone, especially on a weekly television budget, is sometimes implausible even if said location is willing to permit filming. Other times, the actual location is not an option for security and or political reasons. Even in the most general sense, many cities are adverse to blocking off the entire downtown for weeks on end, and so some sequences are film in piecemeal, getting a couple vintage shots of actors near landmarks and then finding a more practical location to film the rest. Another time that this may be necessary is if the original location (and this is true especially for period pieces) no longer looks like what it did in story. While obviously it might be a bit difficult filming an ancient Rome in Rome itself, as the city resembles Caesar's city in name only, even the London of today is quite different from the London of Victorian times through the early part of the twentieth century (thanks in no small part to the Luftwaffe). This makes some doubling in another city more valuable simply because that location actually looks more period-accurate note . Conversely, filming in a story set Twenty Minutes In The Future will have its own problems because to make a location seem futuristic would require a lot of construction and visual effects anyway. Of course, this can lead to Television Geography, as well as Misplaced Wildlife, Misplaced Vegetation, and It's Always Spring. In many cases, the average viewer may not be familiar with the location in question, but it can end up bugging those viewers who have been or actually live in those locations. Also take into account that any production wants to Shoot the Money, and may choose a more scenic place to film instead of the less impressive place it actually is. This can have a very odd effect the first time one visits southern California. Upon seeing for the first time those scrub-covered hills and twisty roads, one gets a truly unearthly sense of deja vu. Have I been here before, you ask yourself? Then you realize that you have... on TV! For those who live in southern California, it is amusing to point out places one recognizes from TV shows. The most used location is Griffith Park, whose scrabble mountains can be seen in nearly every 1950's "jungle" movie and M*A*S*H. This can lead to The Mountains of Illinois when the setting is full of Critical Research Failures. The easiest way to subvert California Doubling is to simply have the setting actually be California (usually Los Angeles/Burbank, which is both near Hollywood and where a good chunk of the television industry is actually located). Indeed, many television shows, especially sitcoms, do exactly that. Contrast with Canada Does Not Exist, where the shooting location actually affects the storyline. Australia Doubling Film * Disco Panic is set in with some scenes set outside there. However, the film was shot entirely in , . ** The re-enactment of the incident where Steve Dahl and his infamous Insane Coho Lips army chase down a WDAI promotional van was filmed at in for the start (wherein the Cohos throw marshmallows at the van), and for the actual chase, and for the ending of the chase (wherein the Cohos chase it into a park and surround it). ** The teen disco occupation was filmed at the in . The exterior of the disco was the on ACDC Lane in , with vinyl wrapping everywhere to hide graffiti. ** The Hanover Park near-riot was filmed at the in . ** The WLUP studios were the studios of and . ** was recreated using a combination of two scale models (one HO scale, the other G scale), a digitally-enhanced , and studio sets at the Docklands Studios. Live-Action TV * WCW is filmed for the most part in Queensland (there was some filming in the second season in Canberra and Tasmania though) despite the fact that it's about a wrestling promotion that traveled across the United States and the world, and a lot of the characters are portrayed by Australians. Aside from some amusing locational irregularities (ah, the beach culture and towering skyscrapers of... Phoenix) it has the side-effect of producing a cast of actors who try their darnedest not to sound Australian. * Bombers on the Screen and From Russia with Bombs are mostly filmed in Victoria, Australia, with some filming done at . New Zealand Doubling Film * Between the Lions: Share a Story was filmed in , mainly in . The exterior of the Barnaby B. Busterfield III Library was the main campus of the with CGI enhancements to resemble the actual set's exterior more. This also allowed for the telling of to use Maori actors as stunt doubles for the people, however said actors' attempts to do non-stereotypical Native American accents tend to fail. And the Maori actors had to have their tā moko digitally painted out in post to make them look more convincing as Native Americans. Also, McDonald's location makes an appearance as a inner-city location of the chain. Live-Action TV * Hello There, Mr. Drager is filmed in Lower Hutt, New Zealand but takes place in the Deep South of the United States. California Doubling Film * Bionicle: The Next Generation used for several scenes that couldn't be filmed in El Kadsre City. One scene had a clearly marked light locomotive move going over a bridge in the background whilst two clearly El Kadsreian characters are talking about El Kadsreian history. El Kadsre Doubling Film * Zak and Wheezie's Big Circus Adventure was mostly filmed in El Kadsre in the West El Kadsreian State. Richardson Park doubled for most of the parks the circus stopped in. Vancouver Doubling Film * Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? was mostly set in San Francisco but filmed in Vancouver: ** The portrayed ACME Crime Net's headquarters Toronto Doubling Film * Whodunnit? A Share A Story Musical Mystery was filmed in Ontario, Canada (specifically in , , and ) with the opening dance sequence filmed at a , location of Tower Records. Here's the location doubling (and things that didn't get hidden): *** The served as the exterior of the Hacker's warehouse hideout (the interior was a studio set). *** The scenes in the Victorian era-theme park were filmed in the , with large green screens put up to mask out the surrounding skyscrapers around the district and visible in the distance from it. *** The department store fight was filmed at . They didn't even try to hide the well-known signs or the iconic neon on the building's exterior, or the store name. *** The scene where the characters meet up with to discuss how to solve the mystery was filmed at the . You can see Grave Digger jumping the fence separating the airport from a nearby boat launching area. *** The haunted house in the climatic scenes was for the exterior whilst the interior was a studio set. *** The Annette Street Library served as the stunt double of the Barnaby B. Busterfield III Library's exterior, whilst the interior was a studio set. *** The Zoom kids' TV studio is , the former studio complex of Rogers Media. During filming, the building was covered almost entirely with green-painted Tyvek to digitally paint the building with graffiti with Zoom logos and various colors and shapes. *** The park where Barney lives is the . The caboose from the actual Barney & Friends show was added in digitally (a mobile home was painted green and dragged into the spot where the caboose is in the film). *** Regarding the "residences" of the Zoomers: Mike's house is , Kortney's house is the at , Francesco's house is , Cara's house is , Kyle's apartment used the (which ironically later became apartments) for it's exterior and a studio set for it's interior, Maya's house is , and Shing Ying's neighborhood is the . *** Sesame Street was mostly recreated using and . They didn't even try to hide some of the LGBT-themed decorations in the former. *** The hockey arena Dongwa and Shing Ying play hockey in is the (then named Ricoh Coliseum) for the interior and for the exterior. *** The ending dance scene was filmed in . * Open A Book! The Reading Rainbow Movie was also filmed in . The exterior of LeVar's TV studio was the . Live-Action TV * Demolition Man is filmed in Toronto, standing in for the fictional super-city of San Angeles. The headquarters of the San Angeles city government is the One York Street tower. Other Doubling Film * Several scenes in Maddox: The Movie 2002 are filmed in Edmonton, Montreal & Toronto, despite it taking place in Maddoxland. **Annnnnnd... the background scenes from Maddox: The Movie 2000. * Other Technic Heroes examples: ** Lana X: The Ladybot used Pansaura, , and Mahri for Sentan due to the situation there at the time. Passing off the as Sentan Government House was a little obvious. ** Lana X4: Tales of Kleni used for , although some filming took place in Jordan later on. Seeing the world-famous as a generic bridge in Jordan is pretty surreal. ** Hypersquad used several small ex-industrial cities in the state of to double for (most of the backgrounds and additional scenery were added digitally). Plus, when aided by CGI, acted as a stunt double for . * Other PBS Kids Movies examples: ** Sagwa: The Movie was filmed in , , , and the state of ; all for the fictional city of Quad City. ** Mister Rogers' Neighborhood: The Movie was filmed in , , doubling for and the fictional Neighborhood of Make Believe. Most of the scenes in said Neighborhood were filmed at the studios, whilst most of the scenes in Pittsburgh were filmed in . Live-Action TV * Extreme Time Tunnel used Quebec to stand in for almost everything under the sun. During the first episode, the "Project TT2 convoy heads to base via the highway" scene cuts a frame or two too late to avoid showing a "Bienvenue à Montréal" sign. * The Ice-T Show is set in Fort Lauderdale, Florida but is taped in Montreal. The Havana Hotel's exterior is the south tower of Complexe Desjardins (the interiors are studio sets). Category:Tropes